Getty Image
Former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan getting riled up about the team isn’t just an act for the cameras, as the 61-year-old indicated he’d return to coaching the team “in a second.”
Following the Jets’ 25-22 Week 8 loss to the New England Patriots — which all but mathematically eliminated the team from postseason contention, ending a season that began with Super Bowl expectations before Halloween — Rex Ryan didn’t mince words while expressing his willingness to return to the team.
Ryan previously coached the Jets from 2009 to 2014 and oversaw the team’s most successful period since the turn of the century, as they featured in two AFC championship games. The Jets also won 11 games in 2010, which is a number they hadn’t reached since 1998 (12) and haven’t achieved since.
“I’d do it in a second because I am a New York Jet. I absolutely would. I tell the damn truth, and I speak as a fan of this football team. That’s why it makes sense. I hope I get an opportunity to interview for it,” Ryan said while speaking on ESPN Radio on Monday following the Jets’ season-ending Week 8 loss to the New England Patriots.
Would Rex Ryan coach the #Jets again?
He sure would.@HDumpty39 | @RothenbergESPN
LISTEN: https://t.co/jLsa28D8OE. pic.twitter.com/3AyrHPQCOI
— DiPietro & Rothenberg (@DRonESPN) October 28, 2024
The New York Jets gave Rex Ryan his first head coaching gig in the NFL when they hired him to be their head coach in 2009 after he established himself as one of the best defensive coordinators in the sport during his time with the Baltimore Ravens. In his first two seasons with the Jets, he took the team to consecutive AFC Championship games, the last of which was the last time the Jets were in the playoffs (2010).
Ryan hasn’t coached in the NFL in almost a decade, having last been in the NFL in 2016 as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Ryan was known for being beloved by his players, however, so connecting with a locker room likely wouldn’t be as much of an issue as him tactically adapting to an NFL that’s far different than the one he left.
What Ryan does have, however, is a clear love and passion for the organization, which is something that’s been entirely absent from the team this season.